First Glance at Mayor's Budget

April 5, 2011

Mayor Gray’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget was released on Friday, and several of the programs help provide Housing for All have been cut.

The Cuts:

$18.0 million – has been taken out of the Housing Production Trust Fund. The Fund is intended to be used to build new affordable housing and preserve housing as affordable to address the high need for affordable housing. These funds are being taken to fund Local Rent Supplement Program vouchers and other rental vouchers.

The impact:· Only $14 million of the intended $32 million will be available in the Fund this year, virtually freezing production of new affordable housing and preservation through the tenant purchase process.
· This cut is part of the 2012 – 2015 financial plan, which means it will apply every year, severely limiting the ability of the Fund to meet it’s intended goal of housing production.
· The entire local appropriation for the Local Rent Supplement Program and other rental vouchers has been removed from the budget
· This still reflects a Housing Authority Subsidy cut of $823,000

$2.7 million – has been cut from Emergency Rental Assistance Program which prevents eviction for low-income households who have gotten behind on their rent.

Total:$22.4 million has been cut fromfrom housing programs alone.Additional cuts have been made to homeless services programs and the Home Purchase Assistance Program.

Mayor Gray proposed $130 million in revenue increases, but still slashed housing programs, small business technical assistance, and other programs that benefit low and moderate income residents.

These programs are crucial to the Continuum of Housing. We are still working to identify the impact of the cuts on homeless services and other supportive services that also make up the Continuum of Housing. Stay tuned for more information as we receive it.

Housing for All Blog is a project of the Housing For All Campaign. We believe all District residents deserve decent, quality housing at a price they can afford, and call on District officials to create a full Continuum of Housing that will meet that need.